Alexey Nikolayevich Verstovsky () () was a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, musical bureaucrat and rival of

Mikhail Glinka Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka ( rus, links=no, Михаил Иванович Глинка, Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka, mʲɪxɐˈil ɨˈvanəvʲɪdʑ ˈɡlʲinkə, Ru-Mikhail-Ivanovich-Glinka.ogg; ) was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognit ...

Biography

Alexey Verstovsky was born at Seliverstovo Estate, Kozlovsky Uyezd,

Tambov Governorate Tambov Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, the Russian Republic, and the Russian SFSR, with its capital in Tambov. It was located between 51°14' and 55°6' north latitude, north and betwee ...

. The grandson of General A. Seliverstov and a captured Turkish woman, he was also a descendant of the Polish

szlachta The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the nobility, noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social ...

(

gentry Gentry (from Old French , from ) are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. ''Gentry'', in its widest connotation, refers to people of good social position connected to Landed property, landed es ...

aristocracy Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense Economy, economic, Politics, political, and soc ...

). A civil engineer by training, he became interested in music while he was studying at the Corps of Engineers in

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. He also studied

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

, musical theory and

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

John Field John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second Ep ...

was among his teachers. At the age of 20 he became famous for his 'opera-

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

' ''Grandmother's Parrots'' (1819). Excited by the success he continued to compose light music for this currently fashionable genre and composed more than 30 of them. He also created a series of

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

s for voice and piano, which he called ''

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

s''. The performance of them had often involved a theatrical action. One of them ''The Black Shawl or Moldavian

Song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

'' (1823) a setting of

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is consid ...

's poem, became immensely popular in the

aristocrats Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense economic, political, and social influence. In Western Christian co ...

salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

s. In 1825 he was appointed as an 'inspector of music' in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, in charge of the imperial theatres including the Maly and Bolshoi, controlling all the repertoire (from 1830) and chairing the board of directors (from 1848 until 1860). He turned to the genre of opera in 1828 and wrote six works. The romantic opera '' Askold's Grave'', written on a subject from Russian history, was the most successful of the six. It has been claimed that the music for ''Askold's Grave'' was polished up by

Gioachino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote man ...

, based on Verstovsky's ideas, for a fee that covered a gambling debt.Yuri Arbatsky, ''Studies in the History of Russian Music'', New York, 1956 (in Russian) pp. 231-2 First performed in 1835 (a year before

's '' A Life for the Tsar'') ''Askold's Grave'' received about 200 performances in St Petersburg and 400 in Moscow in its first 25 years. This was the first Russian opera performed in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

(in 1869). In the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

era the opera was forgotten for decades, until it was revised in 1944 at the Moscow Theatre of Operetta under the title ''Украденная невеста'' (''Ukradennaya Nevesta'' – ''The Stolen Bride''), and then returned to the stage in 1959 after its performance in a new version at the

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

State Opera Theatre. However the "Epoch of Verstovsky" soon changed to the "Epoch of Glinka" and Verstovsky's operas fell into oblivion once more. He was a friend and correspondent with many famous writers, among them Alexander Pushkin,

Vasily Zhukovsky Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky (; – ) was the foremost Russian poet of the 1810s and a leading figure in Russian literature in the first half of the 19th century. He held a high position at the Romanov court as tutor to the Grand Duchess Alexan ...

, Aleksander Griboyedov, Pyotr Vyazemsky, Vladimir Odoevsky, and Aleksander Pisarev. However he was not so popular among his colleagues. Glinka avoided mentioning him in his memoirs;

Modest Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (; ; ; – ) was a Russian composer, one of the group known as "The Five (composers), The Five." He was an innovator of Music of Russia, Russian music in the Romantic music, Romantic period and strove to achieve a ...

nicknamed him ''Gemoroy'' ( Haemorrhoid) by association with the title of his opera ''Gromoboy''. He died in

in 1862, aged 63. His wife a famous Russian actress and singer Nadezhda Repina survived her husband for five years.

Works

* Operas ** '' Pan Tvardovsky'' (, libretto by Mikhail Zagoskin, 1828); **''Vadim, or the wakening of the twelve sleeping maidens'' (''Вадим, или пробуждение двенадцати спящих дев – Vadim, ili probuzhdenie dvenadtsati spyashchikh dev'', after

, 1832) ** '' Askold's Grave'' (also: ''Askold's Tomb'', ''Аскольдова могила – Askol'dova mogila'', 1835) **''Longing for Home'' (Тоска по родине – Toska po rodine, 1839) **''Day Dream or The Chur Valley'' (''Сон наяву, или Чурова долина – Son nayavu, or Churova dolina'', 1844) **''Gromoboy'' (''Громобой'', after Zhukovsky, composed 1854, staged 1857) * Operas-vaudevilles (more than 30) including: **''The Sentimental Landlord in the Steppe’s Village'' (to the text translated from French by Verstovsky, 1817) **''Grandmother's Parrots'' (''Бабушкины попугаи – Babushkiny popugai'', to the text translated from French by N. I. Khmelnitsky, 1819) **''The Crazy House, or Strange Wedding'' (to the text translated from French by Verstovsky, 1822), **''Who is a Brother, Who is a Sister, or a Trick after a Trick'' (to the text written together with Aleksander Griboyedov, 1824) *Music to Dramatic Theatre *Cantatas including ''The Feast of

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

'' (after Pushkin) *Choruses *Songs, Romances and Ballads including famous ''The Black Shawl or Moldavian Song'' (to the poem by

) *Piano music, etc.

Music and sound sample

References

Bibliography

*Abraham G.: The Operas of Alexei Verstovsky, 19th Century Music, 7 (1983) no. 3, 326–335. *Dobrokhotov, B.: A.N. Verstovsky, Zhizn', Teatral'naya Deyatelnost', Opernoye Tvorchestvo, Moscow/Leningrad, 1949 *Keldysh, Yu. V.: Istoriya Russkoy Muzyki, 1948. Vol. 1, p. 345–368. *Levasheva O. E.: Istoriya Russkoy Muzyki ed. by N.V. Tumanina, 1957. Tom 1, p. 216–234. *Shcherbakova M.: Introduction to piano score of Askold's Grave, 1983. *Tvorcheskiye Portrety Kompozitorov (Reference book), Moscow, Muzyka, 1989 *''Verstovsky, Alexey Nikolayevich'' by Richard Taruskin, in 'The

New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes. The dictionary was first published in 1992 by Macmillan Reference, L ...

', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992)

External links

classical composers database

Askold's Grave, you can listen some tracks
about Verstovsky, Varlamov and Gurilyov {{DEFAULTSORT:Verstovsky, Alexey 1799 births 1862 deaths People from Staroyuryevsky District People from Kozlovsky Uyezd Russian people of Polish descent People from the Russian Empire of Turkish descent Composers from the Russian Empire Russian male opera composers Russian opera composers Romantic composers from the Russian Empire 19th-century classical composers from the Russian Empire 19th-century male musicians from the Russian Empire Imperial Moscow University alumni